When Qin Ming Yue walked out of the prison, the night had already descended into darkness. When he arrived home, he couldn’t control the urge to harshly kick the door open, yet even that did not diminish his anger. The old servant who had just been cleaning the courtyard was frightened by the sound, and he looked over in fear until he recognized that it was Qin Ming Yue.
It was as if Qin Ming Yue had suffered immense humiliation, been wronged. His face was shrouded in darkness with his teeth tightly clenched, his hands tightly grasped into fists, making him look like a demon that had climbed out of hell. The aura around him seemed to take on an actual shape, dark and gloomy, and even from afar, the hatred that was so tightly reigned inside of him could still be felt, as if ready to explode at any moment.
But the old servant had no such sense of danger and instead just kept on sweeping and sweeping. He asked,
“Xian-sheng, why did Physician Xiao not come back together with you.”
Qin Ming Yue speed-walked to his room, passing by the old servant as if a tornado had blown by,
“He died!”
“If he died, then you should not keep him in mind. How much better would it be to forget as soon as possible. Ming Yue, you must not be so angry because of it.”
A man dressed in very expensive, high quality clothing suddenly came out of the waiting room for guests, and it was none other than the district magistrate’s son, Chen Xiao-ye. Qin Ming Yue already had one foot in the door but the moment he saw who it was, he retracted his foot as his face immediately donned a supremely fake smile. But his voice was as hard as steel, frosty enough to push anyone away,
“What have you come here for, Chen Xiao-ye?”
From the side, Zhong Bo explained,
“Xian-sheng, this gong-zi had arrived quite a while ago, and has been waiting in the waiting room. I had meant to tell you but then I forgot.”
And then noisily put back the broom before heading to the back kitchen to start cooking.
Seeing Zhong Bo leave, Chen Zi Qi couldn’t help himself and moved forward, looking quite hasty as he said to Qin Ming Yue,
“Ming Yue, that Xiao family has been sent to death row. No one can save them now. Xiao Feng Wu is not a good man, don’t get yourself implicated by associating with him.”
Xiao Feng Wu, these three words, were like cannon powder, being lit into an explosion by whoever said those words. Qin Ming Yue’s face immediately dropped cold, not even willing to give any courtesies,
“Chen Zi Qi, take your leave. This place of mine is too poor and destitute, not a place for someone like you.”
And then he turned around to head back in, closing the door behind him. But Chen Zi Qi quickly used his hand to forcefully push the door open, and with Qin Ming Yue not expecting it, Chen Zi Qi slipped into the room.
“Ming Yue! That Xiao Feng Wu is about to die soon! Why must you still keep me at arm’s length and push me away? You must know how I feel about you, so why are you not willing to turn your head and look at me?”
They’ve said the doors to the officials were open to the south in the shape of an “八”, an 8, and if you don’t have money, only reason, don’t even bother stepping a foot in1.
The district magistrate was no exception. The prison was normally very empty but when it was full, pick any one out of them and it was very likely that it was an innocent man. Quite a few people have been caught these past few days, making it quite noisy every so often which caused Xiao Feng Wu to always take a look, unable to help himself. But since that day, Qin Ming Yue had never set foot back in.
He didn’t know if he should be happy or if he should be disappointed.
Xiao Feng Wu picked up one of the numerous tiny rocks on the floor. Drawing a symbol on the wall, he realized that they had already been in jail for four days. After some contemplation he figured that the Empress should be giving birth either tonight or tomorrow and not one second later.
The guards came in with a wooden barrel full of congee. Each person got one bowl with two mantous and nothing more. When it came to Xiao Feng Wu, he was given an extra bag full of chicken, shimmering with a layer of oil on top, the scent of meat travelling far.
“Sixteen, Sixteen,”
Xiao Feng Ming grabbed onto the jail bars, salivating,
“Pass a chicken leg to your seventh Brother.”
Xiao Feng Wu thought, no fucking way I’ll even give you the chicken butt, but then the thought that humans that were alive naturally had to be dumb, just like Seventh Brother who did not care for a single sad thing in the world came to his mind. The moment he himself had the thought that he could be dying tomorrow made him lose his appetite. He tossed the bag of chicken over between the bars,
“I’m not hungry. Eat it yourself.”
Xiao Feng Ming couldn’t sleep either and he agreed lazily,
“Perhaps it was a serial rapist2, and he got caught just as he was sneaking into the girl’s room.”
The newcomer was likely some troublemaker, someone who wasn’t easily taken down, as there was quite a racket going on outside as if there was a fight. Quite a few guards had rushed over before finally getting the person under control.
“Fuck your grandmother! Who do you think you are to grab onto me! Let me go! Let me go!”
Two guards were on either side of a young man, detaining him, and Xiao Feng Ming was just about to see who this crazy man was, who could be so rash and aggressive even after entering the jail. Yet ignorance was bliss as the moment he looked, fear struck his heart. Was that person not just Eight Brother, the one who joined a merchant’s caravan to Xi Yi?
Xiao Feng Ming kicked at the jail door, angrily yelling,
“Unlucky bastard! Did you not go to Xi Yi? Why are you caught back here?!”
Xiao Liu-Ge helplessly shook his head and shrugged,
“This sure is good, we’re all together now.”
Xiao Feng Chuan was originally struggling but the moment he saw his brothers, he subconsciously stopped fighting. Seeing that Xiao Feng Wu was the only one in his jail cell, the guards quickly opened the door and pushed Xiao Feng Chuan in.
Notes:
*1 This is an adage passed down that basically states to report a crime or whatever, the doors to enter the official’s court would be facing the south (and it’s referenced to have like this shape “八”, which is an “8” in Chinese characters – where the official’s court is basically the “office” of the reigning official and back then basically whoever was the mayor, or in this case the district magistrate, would also be in charge of the crimes and the “law”.
The second part of the adage is to reference that it was super corrupt in the eyes of the commoners as if you don’t have money to bribe the officials, then don’t think you get any fair trials or treatment and so don’t even bother to go in.
*2 serial rapist: technically “flower thief” which basically means someone who takes a girl’s virginity which of course in ancient history has always been very “special”. There’s actually quite a few horror stories/oral tales passed down where some families, when the girl gets married into their family, on their first night, they check for blood, making sure the girl had her hymen broken as the sign of losing it.
So you may have seen novels or dramas where they check for blood on the sheets, etc and to do so, in some cases, the family actually watches the couple have sex and verify that the girl is really a “virgin” but of course as modern science tells us that’s not true but anyway I digress, I believe this term came about from a novel but it also apparently can mean serial rapist and there are “reverse” flower thieves for girls who take a man’s virginity or rape him.